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Fortheheckofit
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email: Email
since: 12-31-05, id: 960423, Profile Updated: 07-30-09
country: United States

Hullo! :)
I can write, but I'm not impressed with my writing; therefore, I doubt that you'll ever see me except for when I review. I love correct English, and I hope to help people use English well (Hence the giant pile of stuff later in my profile).

Favorite books
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

Music

Nine Inch Nails, M.I.A., Muse, Mark Ronson, Arcade Fire, Regina Spektor, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches, Sleater Kinney, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Fiona Apple, Nirvanna, Danny Elfman, E.S Posthumus, Incubus (their new stuff's awful!), and random other stuff.

Word Usage

I highly suggest that you go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/ and find out all you can.

Homophones
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word (or other words) but is spelled differently and has a different meaning. If you misuse words in your writing, you look stupid. If you're even on fanfiction, I'm assuming you have internet-access, and the internet is overflowing with online dictionaries. You have no excuse! Check out this website to figure out what other words you might be misusing: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/homofone.htm.

Their, There, and They're
Their- Possessive form of they: Those are their shoes. That is their friend.
There- this word refers to location: It is over there. There it is!
They're- Contraction of they are: They're after my lucky charms! They're not pleased.

Your and You're
your- possessive form of you: Your glasses are over there, Monica.
you're- Contraction of you are: You're crazy to think that, Emily!

To, Too, and Two
To- Meaning One: A helping verb, meaning it's placed before another verb: I don't like to run when I'm tired. She doesn't want to think about it.
Meaning Two: A preposition, meaning that it's placed before a noun to indicate a location: Sarah, he's going to the store.

Too- 1. In addition to;also; furthermore; moreover: Though she particularly likes to sing, she can dance too.
2. To an excessive extent or degree: I am too sick to eat.

Two
- The whole number located directly after one and before three. One, two, three!

It's and Its
Go to this website: http://how-to-spell-its.com/

Semi-Homophones
Then- Refers to sequence: I then looked for the shirt.
Than
- Refers to comparison: This one is better than that one.

Punctuation

Capitalization

Unless you're writing about a proper noun or at the begginig of a sentence, DON'T capitalise words. Not even in your story summaries. It casts doubt on your credibility as a writer.

Independent and Dependent Clauses
-What are they?
-Punctuation of clauses
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_clause.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/566/02/

Subject-Verb Agreement
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslsubverb.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html

Apostrophes
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html

Please don't throw around apostrophes at random! Wrong use of an apostophe: The face's glowed in the moonlight. Correct use: The table's defaced wooden surface had seen many years of Thanksgiving and waterstains.

Quotation Marks (for American English)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_quote.html

Hyphens
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_hyphen.html

More help: http://www.wccnet.edu/departments/english/freehandouts.php

Grammar

-who and whom (Both are used for clauses about people) and whose (It's the possessive form of who and whom. The word who's is a contraction!)
-that (used for clauses about things, but unlike which, that is used for necessary clauses and is not separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma)
-which (used for unnecessary clauses and separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma)

Basic Rules for Writing
1. If you're unsure of how to use a word or if you're not sure about your grammar, look it up! There are plenty of online dictionaries.

2. Learn grammar, word usage and punctuation rules, and follow 'em! Looking uneducated undermines your credibility as a writer.

3. Show rather than tell things in your writing. Use strong verbs and nouns rather than weak ones with adjectives and adverbs stuck around them.

4. Let your characters be realistic and believable. They should have realistic emotions, dialog and actions. Make characters with facets and not one-trick ponies who always act overly simple.

5. Always try to be concise! If it's not adding to the plot, characters, humor or fantastically witty or profound, what's it doing there?

6. Revise! Reread, edit, change, and correct your writing to make sure it's readable. Nothing is perfect the first time you try it, and writing, like many other things, takes practice.

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